Conference netcad::hub_mgnt

    
    I believe that when clearVISN RMON Manager ships, that it will be able
    to deal with the RMON capabilites of our devices directly.

>Is it possible for the probewatch, to talk direct to the DEChub900 modules ?
>( without the DECpacketprobe)

Many of our current products support RMON Alarms and Events.  These groups
work with PROBEwatch.

The DECpacketProbe supports all 9 groups of RMON.  There's a big difference
between support for 2 groups and full support. 

>I understand that the Probewatch talks to the Agent using  RMON and RFC 
>1271 (for ethernet)
>I was told by a coulaege that the DEChub900 modules soon could be agents.
>Since it does not make mutch sense to put DECpacketprobe in to a DEChub900,
>I belived it, but I can not find the info anywhere.
>
>Can it be done ?

The DECswitch will soon ship with RMON Alarms, Events, Ethernet Statistics,
and History.  (This is 4 of RMON's 9 groups.)  The DECswitch will monitor
Ethernet Statistics and History on each of it's 6 Ethernet ports 
simultaneously.  Switching performance is very minimally affected by this.
The firmware upgrade also supports VLANs, and is free.

The DECswitch will also ship a firmware version which supports full RMON.
This version is not free.  (Contact product management for pricing - not
because I don't want to tell you, but because I don't know.)  This DECswitch
will allow you to turn any switch port into a switch/RMON port.  Switching
performance is significantly affected by this.  (And collision counting is
not supported.)

PROBEwatch will work with both versions of the DECswitch.  In addition, 
clearVISN will contain applications for monitoring the Ethernet Statistics 
and History.

I don't know of any other DEChub900 modules which will support full RMON.

Can all DEChub900 modules support full RMON?  No way.  You may see statistic
and history appearing on some repeaters, but you won't see full RMON on 
repeaters in the foreseeable future.

						-Shawn 

Thanks for the answer. I'm glad to hear that it can be done.
Just one more thing.

>>This DECswitch will allow you to turn any switch port into a switch/RMON 
>>port. 
Since Digital promotes FDDI as the "netwotk backbone"
Will it be possible to use the DECswitch, to monitor the FDDI ring ?	

				Jan

>>>This DECswitch will allow you to turn any switch port into a switch/RMON 
>>>port. 
>Since Digital promotes FDDI as the "netwotk backbone"
>Will it be possible to use the DECswitch, to monitor the FDDI ring ?	


Oooops!  Amend that to say, "...any Ethernet switch port...".

No, you can't monitor on the FDDI port due to a hardware limitation.

					-Shawn

    Thanks a lot,
    I will recomend to our customer to buy DECprobewatch, as soon as the 
    new firmware for the DECswitch is availeble.
    
    I hope somebody will concider to make monitoring of the FDDI ring
    possible from DECprobewatch. 
    
    					Jan.
    

Jan,

you are able to monitor FDDI with Probewatch but you have to use Frontier's 
RMON probe for FDDI it has even Digital partnumber (there are also probes 
for other technologies WAN etc) they are compatible with Probewatch because 
it is port of Frontier's NETscout to Digital UNIX.

Jarry

				Hi,

RE:.2

>Many of our current products support RMON Alarms and Events.  These groups
>work with PROBEwatch.

I assume that the term "PROBEwatch" refers to the upcoming RMON Manager. The
currently released Probewatch is not able to display the Alarm/Event Group of
a DECrepeater/Portswitch 900.

What you mean with the term "work with PROBEwatch" ?
The currently released Probewatch has a Pulldown menu where you can choose a
predefined set of RMON MIB variables for alarming.
There are tons of MIB variables which could be used for alarming. Does the
upcoming RMON Manager also have a predefined set of MIB variables for alarming,
or can we select really all possible MIB variables with a MIB browser like
tool?


>The DECswitch will also ship a firmware version which supports full RMON.
>This version is not free.  (Contact product management for pricing - not
>because I don't want to tell you, but because I don't know.)  This DECswitch
>will allow you to turn any switch port into a switch/RMON port.  Switching
>performance is significantly affected by this.  (And collision counting is
>not supported.)


What dou you mean with "...performance is significantly affected" ?
I would never use this feature in a production environment due to this severe
performance impact. In wich case "full RMON support" makes sense ? 
As "full RMON support" can be enabled only on a single ethernet port at a time,
it will probably be used only in case of trouble (not 24 hours/7 days). 
Is the "4 group RMON" also included in the "full RMON" firmware, i.e. can I
have "4 group RMON" on all ethernet ports and "full RMON" support on a single
ethernet port at the same time?



>PROBEwatch will work with both versions of the DECswitch.  In addition, 
>clearVISN will contain applications for monitoring the Ethernet Statistics 
>and History.

I assume that the term "clearVISN" refers to the Multichassis Manager and this
application is able to display the RMON groups Statistics/History but NOT
Alarm/Event. To displaying, modify, add or delete alarms with a GUI, I will 
need the RMON Manager. 

				Roland

>>Many of our current products support RMON Alarms and Events.  These groups
>>work with PROBEwatch.
>
>I assume that the term "PROBEwatch" refers to the upcoming RMON Manager. The
>currently released Probewatch is not able to display the Alarm/Event Group of
>a DECrepeater/Portswitch 900.

You're right.  That was careless of me.

You can:

    - Set alarms and events from the predefined set so long and the
      device implements that object.

You can not (apparently):

    - View alarms and events which were not set by PROBEwatch.  (I don't
      know why this is.)

    - Receive traps sent by DEC RMON Alarms and Events.  (Probably because 
      of bugs on both ends.  These should be fixed in the next release
      of both agent and PROBEwatch products.)

>There are tons of MIB variables which could be used for alarming. Does the
>upcoming RMON Manager also have a predefined set of MIB variables for alarming,
>or can we select really all possible MIB variables with a MIB browser like
>tool?

I was referring to PROBEwatch.  Someone else will have to answer for the
"upcoming RMON Manager".

>>The DECswitch will also ship a firmware version which supports full RMON.
>>This version is not free.  (Contact product management for pricing - not
>>because I don't want to tell you, but because I don't know.)  This DECswitch
>>will allow you to turn any switch port into a switch/RMON port.  Switching
>>performance is significantly affected by this.  (And collision counting is
>>not supported.)
>
>What do you mean with "...performance is significantly affected" ?
>I would never use this feature in a production environment due to this severe
>performance impact. In which case "full RMON support" makes sense ? 

You took my "significant impact" and turned it into "severe impact".
Kinda unfair don't you think?

Contact product management for performance numbers.

The performance impact is "significant" is you're doing a lot of switching.
Just how significant it is depends on a lot of things.  Customers will
decide if the impact is significant to them.  (Assuming we tell them
about it...and I can't confirm that we do.)

Remember, the WGE isn't a dedicated probe - it's a switch which can
function as a probe.  Our competition is doing this.  Do you think they
have a performance impact when doing this, or do they do magic?   ;-)

>As "full RMON support" can be enabled only on a single ethernet port at a time,
>it will probably be used only in case of trouble (not 24 hours/7 days). 
>Is the "4 group RMON" also included in the "full RMON" firmware, i.e. can I
>have "4 group RMON" on all ethernet ports and "full RMON" support on a single
>ethernet port at the same time?

"4 group RMON" is always active on all Ethernet ports.  You can diddle
RMON MIB objects to make it appear that monitoring is disabled - but the
counters are still being gathered, regardless of whether of not you can
see them.

You can also turn "full RMON" on any port.  It would be unwise to turn
all your ports into full rmon ports and expect to switch a lot of traffic - 
or expect RMON to keep up for that matter.  I don't know how the 
documentation deals with this.

>>PROBEwatch will work with both versions of the DECswitch.  In addition, 
>>clearVISN will contain applications for monitoring the Ethernet Statistics 
>>and History.
>
>I assume that the term "clearVISN" refers to the Multichassis Manager and this
>application is able to display the RMON groups Statistics/History but NOT
>Alarm/Event. To displaying, modify, add or delete alarms with a GUI, I will 
>need the RMON Manager. 

I defer this one to one of the clearVISN folks.

						-Shawn

    Just my added value for today:
    
    "clearVISN RMON Manager" is the new name for the next version of
    PROBEwatch.
    
    "clearVISN Alarm Configurator" is a new application which allows the
    configuration of Alarms on various events on all sorts of devices. Look
    for it sometime this year.
    
    Do not assume that "clearVISN" means "HUBwatch".  (And, as everyone
    knows by now, V5 of HUBwatch is called "clearVISN MultiChassis
    Manager", and "clearVISN Stack Manager".)  clearVISN is the name
    applied to the whole family of managment tools, which will eventually
    feature seamless integration, shared databases, etc.
    
    Tom Hood
    clearVISN Kayak Manager

    
    So, is it:
    
    	clearVISN
    
    	or
    
    	ClearVISN
    
    I've seen both in print from Digital. I suspect it's clearVISN? 

    It's......... clearVISN
    
    
    Bob